Water motor



. March 17. 1925.

W. ADELMANN WATER MOTOR Filed April 25, 1

TOR/VE y l I I I l III .s

Patented Mar. 17, 1925.

Urrea sfr-Aresiszam WILLIAM ADELMANN, OFNEW YORK, N. Y.

WATER Moron. v 5

Application led Apri1p25, 15222. Serial No. 55,'368.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVILLIAM ADELMANN, a' citizen of the UnitedL States,residing'at the city of New York, borough of the Bronx, in the county ofBronx and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefullmprovements in Water'Motors, of which the followingv is aspecification.

This invention relates to water power appliances and has particularreference. to a construction including a member adapted to be rotatedconstantlyA around a horizontal axis by the weight and force of acurrent of water flowing thereoveror caused to fall upon the sidethereof remote from the source of the flow or supply of water.

Vhile I am aware that various types of water wheels have been proposedheretofore, none that have been brought to my attention have possessedthe adaptability for erection and operation in any suitable or desiredspot in a river or other current of water without the expenditure of aconsiderable amount of money in the erection of a dam. One of theobjects of'theimprovement therefore is to provide a construction of astrong durable nature adapted to be easily built in or along any streamand 4with the necessity for practicallyv no damconstruction except aswill be set forth more fully below.

Another object Yof the invention "isto' p rovide' a` watert motoradapted for continuous operation and development of` power`v not onlyday `and night but throughout 'the `full twelve months of theyearirrespective of the condition of thestream with respectlto ice or'other materials supported or'floating on the surface of the water. Inyother words', one of the chiefobjects of'i'th'e invention is to providea vwater power mechanism which will 'be of constant adaptabilitvv forpower and which will be fool proof, requiring never more than am'inimumamount'of attention to keep` it in running order.

A still further object of thefinventionl is to provide a water'powerplant" so designed as topossess the highest'fpossible percentageof'efiiciency in proportion'to the amount of water iiowing along thestream.`

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consistsVinfth'e arrangement and combination' of parts hereinafter describedan'dclaimed, andwhile the invention is'not restricted'to' the exactdetails of construction" disclosed or" sugges ted he'reir7 still for thepurpose kof.illustrating a .practical .embodiment .thereof.reference-.is 1 hadl 'to` the accompanying drawings,` in whichv likereference' characters designate the same parts in the. several views,and in .whichf- Figure l is a plan View;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. Sis a vertical section' on the line 3 3. of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an. enlarged detail of the bridge mechanism. i l

F ig. 5 is a plan View indicating` a'modiication.

Referring now more specifically vto the drawings 10 indicates the bed ofanyconvenient stream whose normal banks may be understood to be atll.The site for the machine having been determined suitable permanentvbuttresses 12 lof concrete, or its equivalent, are erected fromv asuitable depth belowth'e'bed of the stream and along the banks thereofand extending to a suitable elevation, say 'eight or ten feet above thebed of the stream, and extending parallel to the stream. Fitted 'inthese buttresses are aY pairof bearings 13 and 14 atan elevation ofsayabout four'feet, more or less, and with their. axes' intransversehorizontal alignment; Extendingup the stream as continuations ofvthebuttresses are suitable re taining walls 15 of a height approximatingthat of the buttresses andcarried substantially' level. along theirupperv edges far enough upthe stream to produce a head of water for theoperation of Vmy motor. The length of these retaining walls up thestream will naturally depend upon the amount of fall found in the bottomof the stream at the place selected.

Built in or'fsupported in any convenient manner upon or between thebuttresses is a girder 16. Thismember extends across the stream betweenthe buttresses and -is made of angle metalor its equivalent withsuiiicient stiffness and strength to support the members carriedthereby, as fully set forth below, If the stream is suificiently widethisgirde'r may demand intermediate supports of concrete or the like,but for a span of from ten to fourteen or sixteen feet no intermediatesupports are ordinarily necessary;v

A s shown in the main figures the wheel or rotor 17'is composedofv apluralityof sections 18, each of;- say'fforexample, six

f the girder.

feet in diameter and eight feet in length and comprising a solid core orcenter 19 and a circular buckets 20. Also each section has closed ends21 of disk shape. A gudgeon'22 is secured to the center of one end ofthe lirst section and has bearing in the bearing cup 18. rlhe severalsections are secured together end to end by means of fastening members23 passing through registering holes in the adjacent disks 21. Theremote end of the opposite section has connected to its center a powershaft 2a which has bearing` in the bearing sleeve 11i and from whichshaft the power may be taken as from a pulley 25 or its equivalent. Thusthe rotor will be of unitary construction and substantiallyintegralthroughout and supported only at its ends. lflfhen however thestream is too wide for the rotor to be supported only at its ends l mayprovide one or more intermediate buttresses 12, as in Fig. 5, and inwhich auxiliary shafts 24 may be journaled. Otherwise the connectionsbetween the parts of the rotor may be the same as above outlined. ltwill of course be noted that the buckets 2O on the effective ordownstream side of the axis of the rotor are bent upward. Byconstructing the wheel or rotor of a pluralityV of sections arranged endto end, the several sections may be made of standard lengths or sizes,and for the erection of a motor in any particular' place accor-ding tothe width of the stream or the amount of available power, it isexpedient to employ and assemble any desired number of such standardsections, a result that is readily accomplished by reason of theconstruction of the sections, with their own independent sets of bladesor buckets and with standard end fastening means.

The girder `16 is provided along its upper y edge with a rabbet 26 inwhich are received the ends of a series of stringers 27 arrangedparallel to one another and resting with their other ends at or upon thebottom of the stream on the up stream side of the machine, the stringersbeing given an inclination suitable for directing the water ormaterialsfloating on the water up and over To effect this action I providetransverse planks 28 which may be of heavy oak or other durable speciesof wood while the stringers may be of metal, such as Lbeams Thesestringers may easily be put in Vplace and fastened if-desired to thegirder and then the planks 28 are put Vin place transversely of thestringers, making a substantially water tight bridge over which thewater will flow.

29 indicates an adjustable coping supported at its up stream edge uponor near the top of the girdeiythe upper surface ofthe coping lyingsubstantially flush with.

series of concave blades orY vfor any desirable purpose.

the upper surface of the uppermost plank 2S. Any suit-able means howeversuch as shown at 30 may be arranged to adjust and variably support thefree edge of the coping, whereby thel same may be held close to or moreremote from the Vtop of the rotor 17. l

`With the deyiceerected as set forth and with the coping adjusted at asuitable level corresponding to the depth ofthe water, the velocity ofthe current, or otherV local conditions, the water flowing thereover andfalling upon the down stream side of the rotor will fill the buckets onsuch side and the force of the stream and the weight of the water in thebuckets will cause a rotaf tion of the rotor as indicated by the arrow.This rotation of the rotor will be continuous, according to thecontinuity'of the current, day and night an-d throughout the seasons.Any floating materials such as cakes of ice, logs, or the like, willpass over along with the water and will have no other effect upon therotor than to insure rotation thereof as intended. No lbreakage or otherdamage to the rotor can result froml such materials. Obviously the powertaken off at the pulley or gear wheel 25 may be transmitted to anydesired distance and used Because of the continuity of the power theefficiency of the machine will be relatively high even thoughv the powerdeveloped in any unit of time may be only moderate, although in mostinstallations the power will be ample for the driving of heavy machinerysuch as dynamos orother power storing or generating mechanism.

vI claim :l Y

l. A water wheel comprising-a plurality of co-aXial rotor sections eachof which comprises a pair ofV co-aXial end stiifening flanges, a centralsolid core for each Vsection connecting said flanges, and a plurality ofblades connecting with said flanges and said core, said blades, saidcore and said flanges forming an integral rotor section, bolt meanspassing through the abutting flanges between adjacent blades andconnecting said abutting` flanges of the adjacent rotor sectionsdirectly each to each, and bearing and supporting means fixed to theremote ends only of the rotor.

2. In a device of thecharacter set forth, the combination of a pair ofspaced parallel concrete buttresses having bearing'members builtthereiny'a rotating'member journaled in said bearing'members andsubstantially of a length filling kthe space between the buttresses, therotating -member being of unitary structure and comprising rigid bucketsupwardly curved on theV down stream side of the axis thereof, and bridgemechanism serving to cause the water to flow in a continuousunobstructed stream over the top of across the space between thebuttresses adjacent to and above the up stream side of the rotatingmember and also including a plurality of parallel stringers supported atone end on said girder, and a suitable water tight floor resting on saidstringere.

3. In a device of the character set forth, the combination of a pair ofspaced parallel concrete buttresses having bearing members builttherein, a rotating member journaled in said bearing members andsubstantially of a length iilling the space between the buttresses, therotating member being of uni tary structure and comprising rigid bladesor buckets upwardly curved on the down stream side of the axis thereof,and bridge mechanism serving to cause the water toA flow in a continuousstream over the top of the rotating member and fall thence into thebuckets on the down stream side, said bridge mechanism including agirder built into the buttresses and extending horizontally across thespace between the buttresses adjacent to and above the up stream side ofthe rotating member and also including a plurality of parallel stringerssupported at one end on said girder and a series of closely fittedplanks extending transversely across and supported upon said stringers.

4. In a water power device, the combination of a rotating member, a pairof buttresses in which the rotary member is journaled, the rotatingmember being substantially coincident in length with the space betweenthe buttresses and having buckets arranged parallel to its axis,retaining walls extending up stream from the buttresses and constitutingcontinuations thereof, a girder built into the buttresses and extendingacross the space between the buttresses on about the level of the top ofthe rotating member and on the up stream side thereof, said girderhaving formed along its up stream edge with a rabbet, a series ofstringers having one end set into said rabbet and extending thence upstream and resting at their ends on the bottom of the stream, and aplurality of planks extending transversely across and fixed upon saidstringere filling the space between the girder and the bottom of thestream.

5. device as -set forth in claim l in which a vertically adjustablecoping member is provided having one edge supported adjacent to theuppermost plank at the top of the girder and extending thence over andadjacent to the top of the rotary member, means being provided tosupport the free edge of the coping member at any desired elevation withrespect to the rotary member.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM ADELMANN.

